Brands on Ratings & Reviews

[SephoraBIC]

At Sephora, we believe in the power of the beauty community and that knowledge should be shared to benefit all. Sephora has very strict brand rules regarding our Ratings and Reviews, which we know are an important decision tool for our clients. Brands are allowed to leave one review per product and are required to do so from a brand-badged account. Additionally, we have teams dedicated to protecting the integrity of our Ratings and Reviews, ensuring through detailed moderation that it’s a constant trusted, unbiased, authentic source for all.

We do not believe the incident with Sunday Riley is representative of the Sephora Ratings and Reviews culture, or the countless hours our clients have spent sharing their product experiences with us and others. We’ve been in touch with Sunday Riley on this matter, and they have committed to adhering to our review policy.

Please know that we are taking this very seriously and are prioritizing how we can make Ratings and Reviews a better, more transparent, experience for all.

[CheerMomma]

I would absolutely use a ‘verified purchase’ filter if one were made available, and when filtering like that would like to see the star count change too...for instance is it a 5* product but verified purchasers rate it 3*, or vice versa. Can’t stand the Influenster reviews or the reviews on availability price etc that are nothing to do with the product.

As for the rejected reviews, if a review isn’t accepted I think the moderator should contact the reviewer to advise why and give them a chance to edit to meet the guidelines, especially if a verified purchaser. 

@SephoraBIC @DaneeBT

[suzyo]

So @DaneeBT @SephoraBIC, If I'm suspicious of the reviews for the new brand BeautyBio already, will you guys look into it?

[lmaster]

that makes me feel much better knowing all of you @SephoraBIC are doing what you can and even contacting Sunday Riley company! thank you for your due diligence regarding this matter

[mmmiu]

I wish there was someway to filter or not allow reviews from people that received the products for free because they would leave a positive review (esp if they want to continue receiving more free products, who wouldn’t want free stuff?). 

I find it hard to trust reviews nowadays and I gotta actually buy the product to try for myself. 

[DaneeBT]

Your feedback regarding influenster reviews is greatly appreciated, @mmmiu ! I'll be forwarding this to our teams!

[sarahshter]

The single biggest improvement they could make is to do a “verified purchase “ column so you knew that the person reviewing the product actually purchased it.

[MikeHoncho]

How would that work if someone purchased a Sephora play box/kit that had multiple items/brands? They didn’t purchase the single item, but they purchased it as part of a box.

[DaneeBT]

Thank you @sarahshter ! I'll forward your suggestion in regards to adding a "verified purchase" column so this can be taken into future consideration! 

[SoraDixie]

Seriously the idea that Sephora doesn’t repress negative reviews is absurd. There are all sorts of tricks they use. One way they do it is filter the word “burns” but not “burn.” So “it burns my skin” won’t be posted, but “it doesn’t burn my skin” will.

And seriously, based on the reviews you would think that *every* skincare product will give you soft, acne-free, glowing skin with no wrinkles or brown spots. The mascara will make your lashes reach the heavens and the concealer will never crease. It’s such BS. (This is why I have no qualms with returning everything that doesn’t live up to what it and the reviews promise.)

[SoraDixie]

My favorite reviews are the ones that give it a five-star rating and then proceed to give a negative review because the reviewer isn’t stupid and knows there is a good chance a one-star review won’t get though. 

[pocketvenus]

Months ago, I submitted low-star reviews of products that never showed up and this was the last straw for me. It has completely deterred me from leaving product reviews of any kind. Since then, I do not pay any attention to these reviews. When long-time members take the time and effort to write a helpful and detailed review and Sephora doesn't accept it, I see that as the company wasting and devaluing our time.

It will take a massive overhaul over a very long period of time before I will even consider Sephora's product reviews as a factor in my purchases again. It used to be decent many years ago and now it has devolved into a waste of time and resources on many levels.

I really like other's suggestions that there be a waiting period or other thresholds, like a verified purchase, that a user must meet before they can post product reviews. I think filtering based on BIC status would be great since I used to look for certain users back when I still looked at reviews. One of the defining features of a real community is meaningful barriers to entry which is what having thresholds is about. Without meaningful barriers, you do not have an online community, you have a bunch of people inhabiting the same space, be it online or offline. It's fine to have both but when it comes to trust, you can trust in a community whereas you cannot trust random people in a commercial space.

A good system will make those thresholds difficult to circumvent and that may involve a lack of transparency. I am okay with the lack of transparency about board rankings or banned words because it makes the system more difficult to game by more malicious users. It's all about how that lack of transparency is used - it needs to screen out and deter non-contributing or harmful members while not punishing the ones making meaningful contributions and upholding the community.

This is tangential but I also want to add that I hope Sephora staff recognize that this issue of fake reviews in BIC is serious. The value of BIC is in the trust we place in individual members and that staff continue to work toward supporting this. It is much easier and cheaper to invest in and maintain a good thing than to fix a bad one!

[DaneeBT]

I appreciate you taking the time to share your feedback with us @pocketvenus ! Your feedback is valuable to us and I'll be passing this along for improvement in our Ratings & Reviews experience!

[pocketvenus]

Thank you @DaneeBT! I imagine starting these types of threads are tough so I sincerely appreciate the effort!

[sydtomato]

This is incredibly hypocritical. Negative reviews that are completely fair and valid get deleted all the time on this site. This seems to be even more apparent when the item is new and there aren't many reviews to hide the poor ones. Often there will be low stars then you click on the reviews and they are all 4-5 star reviews.

I appreciate the notion of commenting on this issue but coming from a brand that also participates in sketchy behaviour and lack of transparancy regarding reviews, it doesn’t seem so genuine.. I don’t have anything to suggest beyond what others have already said. I hope Sephora takes notice and addresses their own issues as well in the future.

[DaneeBT]

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and feedback with us regarding the product reviews on our website, @sydtomato ! Please know that it is appreciated and I'll pass this along to the appropriate teams.

[GG84]

@sydtomato There are key words that prompt a review to get deleted. I've had many of my reviews not posted and some deleted. 

[sysysysysy]

Thanks for this response! Hope the reviewing process can be more transparent in the future. I noticed a lot of times I will click on a new release on sephora that has a low amount of stars and a couple reviews but when I scroll down it's all positive reviews and the negative ones are no where to be seen

[DaneeBT]

Hi @sysysysysy, thank you for bringing this to our attention! I'll forward this to our teams!

[Kim888]

Thank you for commenting on this issue @SephoraBIC I appreciate that it’s being taken seriously ! 

I really feel the best way to allow transparency for all is to allow us to sort reviews by verified purchase only. As I’m sure you are aware Sunday Riley is just a small part of the problem. Influenster reviews have gotten out of control lately as have reviews from people angry they couldn’t get a limited product or dissatisfied with the price . 

[DaneeBT]

Thank you for your feedback @Kim888! Allowing our clients to sort reviews by verified purchase is a great suggestion and I'll forward this as well!